Shooting trap and upland game with the same gun is a tall order. Trap requires different chokes and even stock dimensions. Compromises will have to be made.

New target grade O/U's will run closer to $2000. If you can live with fixed chokes, many older O/Us are available for under $1000. Used SKBs and the Japanese (Miroku) Charles Dalys are two excellent used gun bargains.

If you're lucky, you might be able to score a more modern screw-in choke O/U for around $1000.

My bet would be look for one of the beretta whitewing blackwing guns they stopped making them this year and the bas model is now the white onyx but there are still a bunch on gun store shelves and you can get them for around 900 nib! great great gun!

Look at the DeHaan shotguns. I've got a U4 30" on order. Its ALOT of gun for under $1000. I got the barrels ported and that brought the cost to $895. The U4 is a Trap gun i.e stock dimensions and what not. 3" chamber and steel OK. DeHaan also has the U1 model. Give those a gander.

If you are only going to have one gun for both trap and field work, and I'm assuming you mean really shooting "trap", not just out shooting rocks with your buddies, you will be able to go to the field with a relativly light Trap gun more sucessfully than you will shooting Trap with a field gun. A good high shoting Sporting Clays gun will make the crossover about as well as anything. There are some used ones out there for the money you described, and plenty of good used Trap O/Us too. Main disadvantage I see of using a Trap gun in the field is toting around that extra weight. You can learn to shoot a high shooting Trap gun at birds in the field just as easialy as not. Daly, Beretta, Browning, just to name a few would be good choices.

BP

_________________A wife and a steady job have ruined many'a good biker!

You can shoot birds with a trap gun if you are strong enough to lug the darn thing around, but it's tough to shoot trap with a bird gun. I really don't think there is a do-all gun for you. Buy a good trap gun and then get a bird gun to hunt with... something shorter and lighter than a trap gun. A pair of 1100s would work just fine. An 1100 trap gun and a 20ga 1100/26".

I have heard good things from the owners of red labels but the ones i have handled didn't seem up to par with the "B" guns beretta and browning though like i have said the owners all love them and that is who counts!

I have heard good things from the owners of red labels but the ones i have handled didn't seem up to par with the "B" guns beretta and browning though like i have said the owners all love them and that is who counts!

Interesting... In what way did you find the RRL lacking? If you were comparing the RRL to a bottom of the line Lightning/Blackwing/Essential I can't imagine what you saw/felt in the RRL that was not "up to par". Those low end "B" guns can be somewhat crude, especially in terms of wood finish and hinge stiffness. I wonder if the problem is that the RRL opens and closes easily when new (like a nicely broken in superposed) while the Brownings and Berettas are stiff when new. Some people seem to equate a stiff hinge with quality. The "P", "K" and Ljutics I've handled and shot were far looser to my touch than any RRL I've handled. I believe that the trick is making them lock up tight even when the hinge is loose. While I prefer Weatherby Orion or SKB 505 at the low end over the RRL, I find the RRL to be a decent shotgun--samples with rattly fore ends and ribs excluded.

If by "trap" you mean shooting in the back 40 with some buddies off a Trius trap have you considered a 20 gage? I would vote for the Ruger Red Label 20 gage as I have fired many thousands of rounds with this gun on the sporting clays course and it sells for about a $1000 locally when new. Would also make a good upland gun. Remove the side ribs, tho.